Reducing the need for fuel in expeditionary settings has become an urgent need for the U.S military. Fuel resupply is extremely costly in remote locations, and so reducing fuel usage could provide substantial savings. Moreover, because fuel convoys are targets, reducing fuel needs saves the lives of soldiers and Marines.
There are a number of obstacles to effectively using solar energy in an expeditionary setting. The first is the sheer area of solar collector necessary to provide sufficient power to replace current solutions such as the 3 kW tactical quiet generator. The second is storage—a tactical power system simply must provide power when the sun is down. Batteries alone are not a satisfactory solution, as they are extremely heavy, costly, or both.
Stirling engines are external combustion devices and are insensitive to the source of heat. They are ideally suited for multi-fuel and or hybrid fuel/renewable energy applications. Stirling-dish systems are currently being commercialized for large-scale solar-thermal plants. JP-8 combustion has been demonstrated as a suitable heat source. Stirling engines are more efficient at converting sunlight to electricity than silicon photovoltaics and more efficient at converting liquid fuels (such as JP-8) than regular internal combustion engines.
What is needed is a tactical power generator for expeditionary settings that is lightweight, portable, and consumes a minimal amount of liquid fuel. In particular, what is needed is a solar-thermal concentrator that can supply sufficient concentrated solar energy to fully power a solar/fuel Stirling engine during daylight hours, can be transported in a light tactical trailer and quickly erected by two people without the use of ladders, and has a profile that minimizes wind loading and detection.